We Have Hope
by GivenAnythingButLove
Summary: How could we possibly defeat Mephiles when he's so powerful? He has everyone under his thumb, even our most powerful allies! And if he manages to seduce her, what hope do we have left? T for language and suggestive themes. Rating may go up with time ;
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys, it's GivenAnythingButLove here :D I hope you like my newest story!  
**D.I.S.C.L.A.I.M.E.R! **Renata the echidna and Aidan the fox both belong to me. Thank you.

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Chapter One**

January 4, 3038, 5:35 PM, just as the sun was setting.

That's when I died, along with all of my friends, and found myself in this inhuman world, where creatures scurried about me like ants, and there was fire... Fire, nothing but fire everywhere.

My head pounded, my heart ached, and I couldn't shake the feeling that something horrible was going to happen because of me. Something that would ruin an entire civilization, an entire planet.

I could only hope that when I had died, I had come to Mobius with a sense that I could help, that this would be a place that I wouldn't feel guilty about intruding on them.

That's when I saw them: three short figures, one electric blue, the other black, and the last a metallic white color, zip past me so fast that if I had blinked I would have missed them completely. I whirled around on the spot and saw them at the top of the mountain that I stood in front of.

Three hedgehogs, and male, easily - their quills were unmistakable. While each of them were similar, they all had distinct markings and features that made them unique. The blue one had slicked back quills and a tan oval stretched across his torso; he looked to be about 15. The not fully matured muscles gave that away. The ebony one had red stripes, and four of his back quills curved up at the tips, as if he had not taken the time to smooth them down like the blue one. He had a tuft of white fur on his chest. He, physically, looked 15 also, but the weary look in his eyes and the scowl on his face made him seem as if he had been living for decades.

The last one, the metallic white one, was easily the most unique. He only had 2 back quills, but 5 front ones that resembled a cockatoo's feathers. He had a thick tuft of fur on his chest as well. He seemed to be the youngest of the three, and he was slightly shorter... maybe 14? I couldn't be sure without talking to them.

But I saw that they were on a mission, and let them be for the time being. I didn't want to interrupt a plan that could save my life. I was not going to die again.

I looked down at my new body, the one that I had created back when I was human, before I had died. I was thin with curves and fair breasts, and my skin was a neon yellow. I had given myself bright violet eyes and semi-long hair. I was an echidna in this world - that, I had not been able to choose. That was chosen at my human birth.

Maybe I should back up a little bit and explain what the hell was going on here in the first place... but we need to go back to the very beginning of this time.

In the year 2100, the planet that I was on now sent a messenger to Earth asking to meet with the human leaders. They told the humans that their planet, "Mobius", wished for a special favor that would help their dying civilization. Being amazed by the unique creatures they were - talking little fellows around 3 feet tall when they stood on 2 legs - the humans agreed.

They said that there was a magical ceremony that they needed to preform, and that they wanted to use it here. The ceremony went like this: a creature from Mobius, whenever a new human child arrived in the world, would arrive and an ancient saying would be spoken by the Mobian as they clasped hands with the baby human: "Yuhanda hee taka rheydt alae moe ghana la spina," or "Let us unite Mobian and Human for eternity." This way, whenever that human died, their spirits would travel through the light-years to reach Mobius, and become one of them, thus repopulating their planet. But they had to become the same animal as the Mobian that preformed the ceremony with them. (That's how I became an echidna - one of those was what preformed the ceremony with me when I was 2 minutes old and screaming my baby lungs out. What a day.)

This plan was ingenious, if a bit confusing at times, and the humans became in awe of any Mobian that stepped on Earth as they zipped to the newborn baby to preform the ceremony. Soon, they even came up with the idea of custom creating their forms digitally. Bases of creatures - hedgehogs, foxes, chameleons - were downloaded into the computer, and at a young age, we could design our own forms that we would become when we died. That's where my highlighter yellow quills and purple eyes came in.

But then, this year in 3038, there was an asteroid that had been in orbit around Earth for centuries, possibly for millenniums. This year, however, gravity had pulled it closer, and it zipped through the atmosphere. It struck the ocean, and a great flood washed over the planet - the asteroid was at least 4000 miles in diameter.

I was sitting at my old school Mac computer that everyone made fun of, fiddling with a school project that I should have done last week, when I heard a BOOM that nearly burst my eardrums. I clapped my hands over my ears and found myself lying on my side, on the floor. I looked out of the open window through squinted eyes and saw a large blue mass approaching me with greater speed than I had ever seen.

This wasn't exactly the way I had planned on seeing the ocean for the first time. I tried to jump up and slam my window shut before the tsunami reached me, but it was hopeless - the giant wave was too fast - and the water swooshed into my room and filled it up in less than half of a second. Before I knew it, I was breathing the salty water, drowning, desperately wanting to get out.

I opened my eyes, even though it was extremely painful to do so with how saline the water was, and everything was blue. I swam toward the window, trying to keep most of my strength, and thankfully I reached it. I looked out, and only saw water. Water filled the sky, had flattened the trees, blocked my view of the Sun, and was finding its way into my lungs. I gasped stupidly, and tried to find a surface.

I never found one, and soon I just gave up and let the water burn my throat, my nose, my heart. I felt it stop beating, and I let my eyes close.

Waking up was the best feeling I'd ever had. I felt dry, airy, as if I didn't have a care in the world. I was still in spirit form. I tried to open my eyes without success, but realized that I didn't have to open them to see. I could see with my nose, my fingers, all of my other senses, except for hearing. I could create images.

I then felt myself materialize at a snail's pace, from the top of my head to the tips of my polished toenails. I felt myself grow a muzzle, thick quills/dreadlocks/things, and a small lightning bolt shaped tail. I sensed my eyes change shape and color, from the average, dull blue to the bright violet that I'd always dreamed of.

It was once they had fully formed that I could open my new eyes, and all at once, sound began blasting in my ears - the sound of screaming, the sound of crackling flames.

Now we get to present time: the hedgehogs standing at the peak of the mountain, staring down at the horrifying burning scene. I wondered why they didn't do anything about it, why they didn't go down there to try to put the fires out. Around me, I saw more bodies begin to materialize - hedgehogs, foxes, echidnas, chameleons, a few mountain lions, and even some crocodiles. I shouldn't have been surprised to see them. Everyone must have died in the flood.

I saw the white hedgehog shake his head, turn and walk back down the mountain. The blue one looked down at him and began to follow. The black one stayed where he was, his arms crossed over his stomach and his eyes brooding. Finally after several long minutes, he went in the direction that his companions had, and the top of the mountain was bare again.

I looked around me, absorbing whatever I could with my new eyes. The planet looked nothing like the photographs that my parents had shown me long ago, when I was much younger. This world was too crimson, too dark. The sky was nearly black, there was so much smoke and ash in the air. I coughed violently to clear my lungs of the irritating mixture, but it was no use. It was choking me.

I felt a hand clap me on the back and I looked up from the ground. I saw a fox that looked familiar. She was bright red, the color of magma, and had light blue-gray eyes. A pair of black glasses rested on her nose. I suddenly realized that this was my best friend's form. "Aidan?" I said. "It's me, Renata."

Aidan smiled. "Yes, I know." She looked around her, a sad and mournful expression pulling at her face. "It's a disgrace, this area of Mobius. We need to get out of here." She ran to the west and I followed, occasionally having to pause to cough until my throat was aching. I needed water, but I couldn't see any pools nearby that weren't gray and cloudy, full of ashes.

We ran for hours, and we must have gone pretty far, because soon, the sky turned blue again, there was light that nearly burned my eyes after adjusting to the dim, and I could see greenery. I breathed in the clean air, relishing the way it felt in my lungs.

_Now if only the whole planet were this pure_, I thought.

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R&R, as usual :D

~ GABL ~


	2. Chapter 2

I don't really have time to go into great detail about this, so I'll just post it.

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"This way," Aidan shouted, leading me in another direction. She had been here before, a few months ago, and knew a damn good bit about Mobius already.

Then I began to see small rivers, flowing with sapphire blue water. I sprinted to one and, cupping my hands, soothed my burning throat and filled my mouth with the water. Aidan did the same next to me, but finished faster than I was willing to. She sat back, breathing heavily and watching me slurp it up. "Go easy on the river, Nata," she cautioned, using her old nickname for me. "This is special water, and it fills us up faster than normal water would."

I did notice that my stomach was starting to hurt, and I forced myself away from the river, settling alongside Aidan. Then I felt the questions pour from my mouth. "Who were those hedgehogs up on the mountain? Why didn't they stop the fire? What's going on back there?"

She massaged her temples with the tips of her fingers and groaned. "I can't believe this is happening. Why am I seeing this?"

"What is it?" I asked; I was frightened, confused. What WAS Aidan seeing?

She shook her head. "You know how I was sort of a future predictor back on Earth... apparently when I officially got on Mobius it enhanced, because I can actually see what's going to happen soon."

"You can see the future?!"

"Shh! Don't yell." Aidan stood, her eyes sort of glazed over. "We need to leave here. It's not safe. The Doctor could be spying on us right now."

I was confused, once again. What doctor? The WITCH doctor?! But I followed her, because even if she had gone a bit crazy, she was still my friend, and I wasn't going to give up my loyalty to her.

We soon reached a little stone house with vines growing on the walls. The place was surrounded by thick pine trees, and I could hear a crow in the air, squawking. It looked cold and lonely, but Aidan, being the girl she is, ran through the door like it was nothing. I honestly was a little afraid of the eerie house. After a few minutes, I saw her rummaging through the place through the muck-stained window, and I figured that if there were anyone in there that they would have caught her already, so I went in after her.

It was dark, and smelled of decaying wood. I couldn't see the floor in this light, but under my bare feet I felt cold stone. I shivered in fear and of chill. I reached out to the wall to keep my balance, but jerked it back with a cry of disgust. The wall had a thick blanket of cobweb stretched across it.

"Shh!" Aidan hissed with an annoying tone. "Just stand there, Renata, don't move." I looked up to where her voice was and saw her standing there, her expression pissed off.

"Sorry," I whispered.

She stared at me for a few seconds in her usual way, then turned and ripped open a cardboard box. She started pulling stuff out of it - pistols, cameras, CDs, tape recorders, a memo book - and shoving them in a large bag. She threw the bag over her shoulder and ran out of the house. I followed her, glad to be out of there. It gave me the heebie-jeebies.

We sprinted through the trees nearby, and I wondered how the hell this bag of stuff was going to come in handy. Aidan usually could figure out a way to make stuff work for her, though.

She skidded to a halt in the middle of the forest and looked around her, her head flying around so fast that I wondered how it didn't fall off her neck. I started to speak, but her hand flew back and smacked against my mouth. She turned her head to me and mouthed, "Not a sound." She pulled one of the pistols from her bag and checked the barrel for bullets. I saw it was fully loaded. To my horror, she held it up to the sky and fired.

Birds flew from their nests above us, their wings flapping so hard they caused ripples of motion to swish through the air. I cringed away from Aidan and wondered if she was going to turn into a psycho before the day was out. If anything I hoped she wouldn't point the gun at me.

She shoved it into her jacket pocket and took off running again. I was struggling to keep up and cursed myself for skipping so many gym classes.

She finally slowed down and began to relax a bit when we burst through the last row of trees and saw a white mansion in the distance. It looked inviting enough, and I jogged alongside Aidan towards it.

When we reached the huge house, Aidan pulled on a chain hanging down by the door, ringing a bell that could be heard softly. We waited a few seconds, then the door opened and a pink hedgehog stuck her curly-quilled head out. She grinned, showing beautiful white teeth. She looked to be twelve, but she gave off an air of someone who was older than that, and definitely more important. "Aidan! I love your fox look! It's so nice to see you again."

"And to you too, Amy," Aidan said with a smile. Then she gestured to me. "I brought a friend this time. This is Renata. Renata, this is Amy Rose."

I was amazed by the formality Aidan was using, since on Earth she had been the kind to trash talk. I looked Amy in the eye. She seemed very nice, and when she held out her hand to shake I took it. "It's good to meet you Renata," she said. "I've heard many great things about you from Aidan."

"Well most of them probably aren't true," I laughed.

Amy laughed with me. "Ah, modesty. I wish that was something I could practice. But do come in, you two must need some freshening up." She stepped back away from the door and Aidan and I entered her beautiful mansion.

It wasn't like most mansions I had seen back on Earth. There were no grand light fixtures hanging from the ceiling, and I didn't see any framed paintings on the walls. I saw many CDs and DVDs lining the wall, and a stereo longer than I am on one side of the room. Hard rock was playing, and I smiled to myself. Amy and I had something in common already - we listen to that kind of music.

Amy brought out a platter of food and drinks, with small slices of pizza, Coke over ice, and some cookies on it. She watched us eat for a few minutes, then started questioning us. When had I arrived here? Why were we animals? What was going on outside her home? As we explained what had happened with the Flood, she sat leaned forward on the pink faux fur sofa, her hands clasped in front of her and her jade green eyes bright and alert. I liked her already.

We had just reached the part where we had gotten to the enchanted river, the doorbell rang again and Amy leapt from the couch, practically flying to the door with a grin on her face. When she opened it, she pounced whoever was there and screamed, "SONIC!"

"A-AMY!" a guy's voice replied with a tight tone. I heard him cough a few times. "You're choking me to death, ease up a bit!"

I was sure my face said What The Hell in capital letters. Aidan saw my confused look and explained, "Sonic is Amy's boyfriend."

"Hey guys, come over here for a sec," Amy called from down the hall. Aidan and I stood and followed her voice. We found her standing by the door, clinging to the same electric blue hedgehog that I had seen on the mountain. Seeing him up close, I could definitely tell he was 15 years old. He was lean, without being masculine, and he was somewhat tall - about 3 and a half feet in height. "Sonic," Amy continued, "this is Renata and Aidan. You knew Aidan already, but not since she joined our country, and Renata is her best friend."

"Oh hey Aidan," Sonic said with a grin. "You still look the same as you used to, just a bit shorter than you were as a human." He laughed a bit, then to my surprise they gave each other a quick hug. He turned to me and held out his hand for a shake. "And Renata, I'm glad to meet you." His smile was sweet and small, and very friendly. I shook his hand and smiled, making his grow wider. He felt Amy's arms slip around his waist. "I'm hungry."

Amy laughed. "You're always hungry, you silly goose. Come on, I'll make you some food." She took his hand and sprinted through the house. At the end of the hall, she turned to us and said, "You can go back to the den if you want."

Aidan gave her a thumbs up and we went back to the room we had entered when we got there. A few minutes later, I caught a whiff of delicious goodness, and Amy and Sonic came in with a huge plate of...

"Oh my God you made chilidogs, Amy!" Aidan yelled in excitement. She began bouncing up and down in her seat with a bright glimmer in her eyes. "Share them Sonic, PLEASE?!"

"Okay, okay!" Sonic replied, laughing. "I swear, you love these more than I do, and that's saying something." He took the dog on the top and ate half of it in one bite. Aidan dove into the pile and grabbed two at the same time. "You can have some too, Renata," Sonic added after swallowing, seeing me sit there and watch them chow down. Aidan looked up at me and smiled, the chili spreading across her lips.

"Thank you," I said softly and was reaching out for one when I heard Amy scream.

"What's wrong, honey?!" Sonic asked her; she had shrunk into his side, staring out of her window with wide and terrified eyes. Apparently, judging by his expression, this didn't happen too often.

Her voice was barely above a hoarse whisper. "Mephiles is outside."

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I hope you likey : )

~ GABL


	3. Chapter 3

Here's chapter 3, too. :) Take it and be happy… LOL JK.

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"Shit," Sonic hissed and leapt from the couch. He approached the window with deliberately slow steps, and when he reached it, he slid it open and began jumping up and down, waving his arms around. "Hey! Asshole! Come and get me!" he screamed out the window.

I heard a manic laugh and I cringed. "YOU are the asshole here, blue boy," the voice said, sinister and chilling, with a thin layer of charm underneath.

Sonic put his hand on his hip. "Y'know, I still don't get how you can talk without a mouth."

"That really doesn't matter right now!" the voice screamed. The fact that Sonic said he had no mouth intrigued me, and I came a bit closer to the window to get a peek at what was going on.

The hedgehog before us looked neither a god nor a mortal, but a strange cross between the two. He looked stronger and more deadly than, perhaps, Sonic did, but still retained the natural shape of the hedgehogs. The quills were a charcoal color and the same design as the black hedgehog I had seen with Sonic earlier, except instead of red stripes these were gray-teal, and the muzzle was a light gray. Sonic was right - this guy didn't have a mouth, not even a tiny slit. What scared me the most were the eyes; I didn't think before then that the term "icy cold" could be described to green eyes, but that's the way they looked on Mephiles.

"Look dude: you've caused havoc among almost every corner of this planet. What else do you want?" Sonic retorted.

Mephiles seemed to smile - I could tell in the way his eyes narrowed and his cheeks raised slightly. "You know that all I need is you or one of your friends," he said. "I need one of your kind, blue boy, then I'll have this place under my power. I will have more authority in my little finger than every army, every general, every solider in the world. So please, I'm asking politely," he continued, bringing the charm in his voice to the forefront. "Just give me a specimen. It's all I ask for."

"As if I'd give you shit," Sonic growled at him, and to my surprise, leaned out the window and spat at the hedgehog's feet. I had a feeling that this was going too far.

Mephiles frowned. His voice was sweet and soft, yet venomous. "Fine then, you leave me no choice." He raised his arm, and I recognized an over-sized, sparkling gem, glowing blue.

"A Chaos Emerald?!" Aidan yelled.

"Give me someone in this room IMMEDIATELY, or else I will pierce THIS -" he created a Chaos Spear in an instant - "right into your heart. ALL of you. Rarely does anyone survive such an attack. Is that clear?"

Everybody looked at each other, despair and worry ripping at their eyes. Then, Sonic looked at me, an apology in them. "Take this one," he said, holding onto my hand and pulling me forward.

"What the hell?!" I managed to say before Mephiles reached out and snatched me from Sonic's hand. He was taller than he had appeared, almost 4 feet, and so much stronger. He held me like a baby doll in one arm and yelled, "Chaos Control!"

My vision danced around me for a few seconds, a rainbow of colors in a splatter-paint design, before we landed in the dark. It was pitch black, and I felt chills running along my spine. Mephiles took a few steps, then flipped a switch on the wall, and the room was suddenly lit up.

It reminded me of a prison: the walls were smooth concrete, with bars covering the small window; a lumpy bed sat in the corner with no sheets, and there was a large garbage can sized bowl of water in the corner. A larger window looked into another jail like cell. Mephiles threw me to the floor, and I squeaked in pain as I slammed into the stone. "Stay," he commanded like a dog trainer and materialized from the room with another "Chaos Control", but not before muttering, "This is some serious bullshit."

I stood, rubbing my butt cheek where I had hit it - I was probably going to bruise - and looked around my little room. It was definitely not the cozy mansion I had been in less than a minute ago. I walked over to the water bowl, wondering what it was for. It had to have a reason.

"You take baths in that water," a young boy's voice near me said, making me leap about 5 feet in the air. The voice came from a small yellow fox in the prison to my left. His tail swished around him nervously. He smiled weakly. "I'm Miles Prower, but you can call me Tails. I've kinda got a..." He glanced at his tail, and I realized that there were two of them, moving in near perfect synchronization. "I've got a mutation."

"Don't say that, it looks kinda cute," I replied, making him blush. "I'm Renata."

"Nice name. Say, Renata, do you know why he brought you here?" Tails asked. When I shook my head, he sighed and looked at the floor. "He said he needed me for a specimen. What kind of specimens are we supposed to be?"

"Do you think he may run tests on us or something?" I wondered aloud.

"Maybe," Tails mused. "I wish I could help him with the tests, not that I'd wanna use you as a guinea pig. I'm pretty good with science stuff - well, specifically mechanics and building things."

"Have you ever thought about building something to get yourself out of this place?"

It was his turn now to shake his head, his wide blue eyes sad. "Nope. Old Mephie has got this place bound with dark magic. It would be utterly impossible to try to do something as drastic as that."

"Oh." I felt like an idiot now. I sat down on the bed, feeling the springs groan under my weight. "How long have you been here?"

"Just a couple of weeks," Tails replied, sliding one of his tails through his fingers. "It's a better life than it seems at first. We do get to come out of this little room a couple times a week, and we get meals. But there are some pretty strict rules that I've had to learn fast. First we can't use the bathroom in our cell. There's an outhouse nearby, but it smells something nasty, and there isn't a separate stall for genders, either, so you might walk in on an old guy taking a dump occasionally."

This made me giggle slightly since I knew exactly how embarrassing it was to see that. Let's just say my human grandfather was a bit out-of-it and he didn't always close the door... or put the seat down, for that matter.

"The second most important thing is," Tails continued, "if anyone, and I mean ANYONE, comes up to that little window over there..." He pointed to the tiny barred window above him. "We have to alert a guard immediately. Usually they will respond to a loud whistle, and if you can't whistle with your mouth, you're given a little metal one instead. Third, if you abuse the whistle rule in any way, you are going to be used as a guinea pig for an electric chair that has enough energy to power all of Mobius." He shuddered. "It's not a pretty sight, trust me. The people start smoking as soon as they get buzzed, and they explode in less than a minute. It gives a new meaning to raining blood."

I flinched. I definitely did not have a nice image in my mind.

"I'm just wondering," Tails said after a few seconds, "but do you know Sonic the Hedgehog personally?"

"Sort of," I replied. "I met him briefly earlier today."

"Is he okay?" He sounded worried, concerned. His arms wrapped around his knees, and he rocked back onto his heels. "He's like a big brother to me, and I like to know he's okay."

"I'm sure he's alright," I assured the little fox, who looked so frightened that I wanted to walk into his little room and hold him close, in case he wanted to cry into my shoulder. But the cold concrete wall separated us, so I could only use my voice to comfort him.

There was a loud buzzer, and he curled up on his bed, wrapping his tails around him like blankets. "That's the curfew bell," he murmured to me. "Good night, Renata." And with that, Tails fell asleep, snoring lightly.

I climbed onto the bed and looked out the now starry window, lost in thought. What was going to happen to me now? Would I ever see my friends again? Had today been the last day to talk to Aidan, and had I completely blown it? Can I really trust Tails the Fox? Can I befriend him without losing him? Were there any more creatures as horrifying as Mephiles the Dark?

And my most important question: who were the other two hedgehogs at the mountaintop with Sonic?

All of these questions buzzed among my head like large bees, stinging but never dying, flying eternally. This made for an uneasy state of mind, but I eventually managed to keep my eyes shut for more than a second, and soon after I slipped into a dreamless sleep.

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You might have to wait a while for Ch 4, I'm having writer's block :( Wretched thing…

~GABL


	4. Chapter 4

Gah, I have no idea why it took me so long to write this chapter... however, I guess it's pretty good, for what it's worth. So, here's Chapter Four!

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A clanging bell in my ear jolted me from my dead sleep, and I sat up in my bed with a sharp gasp. "Rise and shine, little lady," a gravelly voice said. I looked up to see a dark blue albatross guard, staring at me with tiny beady eyes. "Today we're walkin' round the house."

He dropped a pile of fabric on the ground at the foot of my bed. "Here's some clothes to change into." With that, he left my prison.

"That's Mason," Tails piped up in his room; he had already changed into a fresh pair of jeans and a button up red and white plaid short sleeved shirt. "He's one of the nice guards."

"Nice?" I said incredulously.

"Well, nicer than some of the others. A few are nearly as evil as Mephiles when he gets mad."

This made me speechless. I looked in the prison to my other side; it was empty. Since I figured Tails was not "that kind of guy" and because he only looked about 8 years old, I went ahead and changed into my other clothes. I saw his head turn away from me as I changed shirts and I smiled to myself.

I actually liked the clothes they picked out for me. They fit me well, and the lavender tank top I received felt smooth and soft against my skin. It must have been made of satin. A few minutes later, Mason came back and opened the door to my cell, waving me out. He closed the door after I exited.

The outside of my room wasn't very surprising: a gray hallway with doors lining it. It seemed like everything was gray around here. I heard sizzling coming from a larger door, and the smell of melted cheddar cheese over lightly scrambled eggs hit me smack in the nose, making me lick my lips. I didn't realize how hungry I was until then; the cookie that I had eaten at Amy's house had not lasted long. My stomach twisted on itself inside me.

As if he could hear my thoughts, Mason told me, "We eat in an hour. But first, we walk."

When we reached the end of the long hallway a few minutes later, two iron doors met us, and they swung open at our approach. Mephiles stood at the other side of them, his face blank. "She will be fine from here on out, Mason," he said in a dismissive voice. As the bulky albatross hobbled away, Mephiles looked at me with a frown. "What to do with you..." I heard him murmur under his breath. Then, as if he had made up his mind on something, he snapped his fingers and, grabbing my hand, sprinted down another gray hallway.

"I thought we were WALKING," I retorted, slightly short of breath after a few moments.

His glare turned to me, hard as stone. "You're definitely not going to be walking today, not with that build. You're working for me now. You do as I say, when I say it, no questions asked. If I ask you to run an errand, you do it. If I ask you to get me coffee, you do it. Understand?"

I ripped my hand from his and halted in my tracks. He skidded to a stop and turned to me. "I am NOT going to be pushed around like some kind of slave," I spat. "You're obviously not the kindest guy around here, and I'm not going to work under your influence. I don't want anything to do with you. You're just a sick bastard."

He stroked his chin, reminding me of the detectives in cartoons from way back then. "You're feisty and stubborn, like a mule. Yet young, and unknowing." He grasped my wrist again and, squeezing it tightly, twisted it almost 360 degrees. "Listen to me, little girl. You are under my influence. Nobody can help you. Not even your friends will come looking for you. They know that I'm the most powerful thing out there."

I yelled in pain, clawing at his hand to release me and leaving little cuts which oozed thin blood. "Let me GO!" I screamed. His grip did not loosen, and I stood there like a temper tantrum throwing child, trying to jerk my hand from his.

When he finally let go, my wrist was bruised purple and his hand was bleeding all over. He pulled the green Chaos Emerald from nowhere and held it over the wounds; they healed on contact, glowing an eerie fluorescent lime. He picked me up like a baby with ease and Chaos Controlled out of the hallway.

We appeared outside, under a blistering sun. The field beyond me was bare; nothing grew in the hot air that wavered before my eyes. I felt sweat drops already ooze from my forehead and nose and wiped them away.

Around us, I saw animals of all shapes and sizes cutting at the ground. Most of them had hoes, and a few were tagging along behind them, dropping seeds of a strange shade of violet into the ground. One person stood by with a water hose, spraying a fine mist on the ground. Everyone looked tired and hungry, as if they hadn't slept for days. Mephiles waved his arms around as if gesturing to a great accomplishment. "Welcome to my garden. This is where you will be working."

My eyebrows shot up. "This is a GARDEN?"

"Well of course!" Mephiles responded, his eyes wide and surprised. "Don't you see these people hard at work, planting the seeds of the achomedla?"

"The whattywhatwhat?"

"The achomedla. It's the healthiest food in Mobius; the tiny red buds, when ripe, can be picked off the plant and eaten raw. They taste like mango. You can cook the stalk of the plant with the leaves, too. They supply fiber, all kinds of vitamins, potassium, TONS of protein... the list goes on for miles!"

I looked around again. "Doesn't look easy."

"It isn't, trust me. This is one reason why I need you here with me," he said, turning my shoulders to face him. "You look like you've done some labor before, with the lean muscle in your back, arms and legs. I need you to work however you can in this area."

As I watched them work, I was convincing myself that this would be sort of fun. I was a big fan of gardening back on Earth, and while this would be thousands of times harder judging by my surroundings, I was up for the challenge. "When do I start?"

"In a few minutes. However, that top is too nice for the dirt to get all over. I need you to change into something else." He ran over to a plastic bin and began rummaging through it. After a moment he pulled out a plain white T-shirt that was probably made of cotton. It had a couple of dirt smudges on it, but must have been better than whatever else was in that bucket. "Change into this," he said as he threw it to me. "There's a tree over there you can change behind."

As I changed into my new attire, I wondered how long he would want me to work out here, and if the sun above would ever subside. When I asked him about both a few seconds later, he said, "Until the harvest is over. That means for several weeks. And the heat is something that comes and goes. Some days you'll be working in this sun, and in others it might as well be snowing it's so cold out here. The achomedla is a very tricky thing to plant. It needs several types of weather to grow correctly."

I wasn't happy about having to work for weeks, but I was glad I wasn't going to have to work in this heat every single day of it. But I didn't exactly thrive in the cold either. "I don't want to sound like a whiny brat, but will I ever have days off?"

He thought for a second. "I'm going to need you for other things as well, besides working here, so I'll pull you out of the job on a few days to do other stuff indoors." I sighed with relief before he continued.

"You heard me say when I found you that I needed a specimen, correct? I'm going to have to run a few experiments and tests on you while you're here. A lot of them might be very painful, and a couple, possibly, could make you very sick for a little while. This is not an easy life, Renata."

"Of course it isn't," I said. "No life is easy, not with you around." With that, I held up my middle finger for a second.

He frowned, then handed me a hoe, pointing to an area of the ground that hadn't been hacked at yet. "Start there." He Chaos Controlled away after glaring at me one last time. "Bitch," he murmured.

I growled under my breath, infuriated with him, but began digging. The ground was hard like dry clay, and a pale chartreuse color. I noticed the gardeners didn't speak when Mephiles was around. It was probably for good reason. I saw a little forest green hedgehog run behind me and start dropping seeds into my holes, and ignored him at first until he spoke to me after a buzz of conversation spread throughout the garden. "How did you get here?"

"I was basically sold to this place," I replied, digging at the ground harder at the word _sold_; my back was already aching, and I felt my temples throbbing. My shirt was soaked with sweat. "I thought I was surrounded by friends who would stand up for me. But instead of risking their lives, they basically said, 'Hey Mephiles, we don't care about this girl, so take her away!'"

"Ouch," the hedgehog said. "Sounds rough. When I came here, I didn't know a single thing about his little take-over-the-world fiasco, and thought it wouldn't be like this, so I actually OFFERED to come. I wish I hadn't now. This is practically hell." After a second of silence, he said, "So why did he bring you out here instead of having you stay in the little gray rooms 24/7?"

"He just said I had the right build to do labor, and that he wanted to keep me out here until the achomedlas are harvested. It's a legitimate reason, but one I wish wasn't actually legitimate. And... I guess I sort of bad-mouthed at him."

He whistled. "You got some serious guts to talk back to him. Most people would rather walk on hot coals than bad-mouth Mephiles the Dark."

This remark made me think of Sonic the Hedgehog and what he had said to Mephiles the day before, and I suppressed a smile as I continued chopping at the ground. The little green hedgehog was pretty quiet afterwards as he scattered the little violet seeds behind me.

This continued until dark, and I still hadn't eaten yet. My stomach was no longer twisting - it was doing the Casper Slide inside me, and the dance was definitely not that coordinated. I was so close to nausea that I could feel it in the back of my throat.

If things continued this way, I was pretty sure I would personally strangle and murder someone if they were 10 feet of me without giving me any food. Finally, Mephiles came back out and said, "That's enough for today. Go back inside." He turned to go back inside then paused and added, "By the way, if you find anyone dead out here, drag them over there so that the smell doesn't slow the growth of the achomedla." He pointed to a small shaded area away from the building underneath another tree.

There were a few sighs of relief as they straightened up, popping their backs. Already I saw five bodies being dragged to the tree, and I shuddered. I ran to catch up with Mephiles, since I still knew nothing about this place and didn't know my way back to my prison. I tapped him on the shoulder.

To my surprise, when he looked at me, he smiled slightly. "Hello, Renata. Glad to see you again. I'll lead you back to your room and bring you some food. You've done well today."

I couldn't speak, purely because I didn't understand. He was calling me names one second (then again, I deserved that one for flipping him off), and now he was treating me like a friend. I just nodded at him and followed him down the hall, wondering how he was going to behave next. He seemed so unpredictable at times. I really wanted to know more, so that I could know what to expect of this strange creature, Mephiles the Dark.

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Read and Review, please! :D

~ GABL


	5. Chapter 5

I know it's been a while since I last updated this story, and I'm really sorry about that. I honestly put it off for a while because I wasn't sure if these chapters were good. But, here you go, enjoy :) Sorry it took me over a month.

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Mephiles and I soon made it to my prison again, and he motioned for me to have a seat on my bed. When I raised my eyebrow in questioning, he just glared at me until I sat down; then his gaze loosened, and he sat on the other end of the bed, across from me. I could tell he was trying his hardest to not make me feel uncomfortable. After all, we knew nothing about each other, and he probably didn't want to sit next to me anyway.

When Mason walked by our room and saw Mephiles in here, his tiny eyes widened. "Uh, Master?"

"Bring Renata her dinner. I wish to stay here with her."

Mason nodded at the back of Mephiles' head and waddled away, muttering something indistinctly. There was a slightly awkward silence for a few seconds, then Mephiles looked up at me. His eyes were still that creepy shade of icy green, but they didn't seem as angry as before. I could still detect a thin layer of manic hostility behind the charm, but as soon as I saw it, it disappeared.

I blinked, unsure of what to say.

I looked over at Tails' room and saw he was playing with some pebbles in the corner, watching Mephiles with slight fear. Apparently he wasn't usually this close to the Dark.

The smell of sashimi salmon hit my nose and I licked my lips. Before I knew it, Mason had set a plate of it with a pair of delicate chopsticks in front of me, bowing to Mephiles before exiting again. The Dark gestured for me to begin eating, and I dug in, filling my hungry stomach with the delicious sushi. It was absolutely perfect. I wondered how they knew it was my favorite food; if they didn't, they had some damn good guessing skills. I savored and enjoyed the flavor of the first few bites, then began shoveling it in my mouth as politely as I could.

Several minutes later, the curfew bell rang, and Tails stood from the corner and climbed onto his bed, curling his tails around him. I heard Mephiles sigh, and I looked up to him. "I need you to come with me. We need to do some tests before you go to bed." When I stood, he put a hand on my shoulder, gently pushing me back down. "Finish eating first."

"I'm done," I told him, looking down at my plate. The lovely salmon had lasted less time than I had wanted, but I guess I had eaten it a little too fast.

"Well then, follow me." Mephiles stood and walked from the room with swift steps, and I tagged along behind him, not wishing to get lost in this place; more confusion was the last thing I needed.

We kept walking until we met, of course, another gray door. The monotone was starting to make my eyes droop. I knew I needed to sleep, but I plodded on behind the Dark through the door, knowing that he would need me to stay conscious.

The bright lighting inside the room nearly blinded me, as my eyes had become adjusted to the dim light of the hallways. I had to blink repeatedly before my eyes stopped swimming and could focus on my surroundings.

There was a long, steel table with a thin mattress on it and wax paper. I saw a desk in one corner with a complicated looking computer that had a bunch of unlabeled knobs and buttons. On the screen, white numbers against a black background scrolled quickly from the bottom to the top. The walls were a crisp white, and the floor was tiled the same white. A bright yellow orb hovering a few feet above our heads emitted a light reminiscent to the Sun.

Mephiles guided me over to the table and, lifting me up, set me down on the wax paper like a 5 year old child. I didn't comment on it as he went to a hidden cabinet painted white and pulled out some items: a plastic cup, something that looked like a small white and blue piece of paper, and my worst enemy - a bunch of needles.

My heart froze in my chest as I gaped at the injection needles. There were... seven? No way. There was no way in hell would I have that many needles going into my skin! "I have a phobia of needles," I squeaked, realizing how much I sounded like a squirrel after a cup of coffee.

Mephiles chuckled slightly cruelly. "No need to be afraid, Renata. It's not like they're going to hurt you. Besides, we don't need them until later. For now, I'll be doing other things."

I sighed with relief. Mephiles handed me the paper thingy and the plastic cup. He opened up a door, and I saw it led to a small bathroom. "Urinate on the pregnancy test and in the cup."

My eyes bulged out of my sockets, staring down at the little thing that now seemed a lot stranger now. "This is a PREGNANCY TEST?"

"We need to make sure."

"Okay, but I'll tell you truthfully that I'm a very inexperienced virgin, so don't expect much." I closed the door behind me, wondering why the hell he would want to know such information. It's not like I was fooling around with any young guys around here in my spare time. The only relatively young people I knew were Tails - and I didn't exactly want to think about him trying to do that - and the little green hedgehog outside in the field. I didn't even know his name yet.

When I came back out a few minutes later and showed him the negative test, he threw it in the trash after writing on a clipboard. He took the plastic cup and put a lid on it, storing it in a refrigerator.

Then he picked up one of the needles.

I felt my chest clench again and I bit my tongue, cursing myself for being so afraid. I knew I had to relax. If I were tense, I knew it was just going to hurt more, based on experience. I took a deep breath, thinking about my mediation sessions with Aidan back on earth.

Her words swam through my head. "_Close your eyes and clear your mind of all negative thoughts. Think of nothing but the trees, the life of the grass. The life of the beings around you. There is no past. There is no future. There is only now. Imagine swimming in a bottomless pool, weightless. Imagine flying among the clouds, all of your troubles down on the ground. Nobody can touch you." _

With that I felt better, but it didn't last very long. Mephiles approached me with the needle in his hand, a smile on his face. It wasn't menacing, but it did seem like he would take joy in terrifying me for these few seconds.

"What's in that needle?" I asked.

"Since you haven't been here very long, you are similar to a newborn child in that way. You need to be vaccinated against the different diseases that could sweep across us at any time." He placed the needle against my right upper arm and, with a quick shove, it went into my skin.

I hissed through my teeth, my discomfort apparent. He injected the vaccination, and the needle was gone after that. A cotton ball was placed on the tiny wound with a piece of medical tape; I guessed they didn't have Band-Aids here.

The second needle came, and it repeated in the same fashion on my other arm. The third was in my left thigh, and the fourth was in my lower left arm. He inserted another into my lower back, next to my spine - this one was the longest, and the most painful. I let out a harsh groan as it entered my muscle, but I kept myself relaxed, telling myself that this would be easier if I just stayed calm. Regardless, that didn't ease my nerves on haywire as the last two went into my calves, one in each. I was covered in cotton balls by this point, which humored me slightly for some reason. It must have been very late by this point. People tended to laugh more close to the middle of the night.

He helped me off of the table and walked me over to another door, this one being metal. With a few swift fingers, he entered a password into the number pad next to it, and the door slid apart. It closed behind us as we stepped in. He leaned down and murmured into my ear, "I wanted to show you this room before you go to bed. It's not really of any importance, but I think you need to relax and see this."

I don't know what I had expected to be inside, but this was definitely not it. I saw about 20 identical little one foot tall dolls that looked like old-fashioned Barbie dolls with their heads torn off. But they weren't just laying around, broken - they were walking around with their arms out in front of them like zombies. A few would run into the walls, and some ran into each other, flailing their arms as they fell backwards. Like a machine, they stood up again and kept walking. All were stumbling, blind. Their clothes were stained with red, as if their necks had gushed blood when their heads were removed.

The sight was appalling in a way, yet sadistically humorous in another. I giggled as a particularly clumsy one broke into a sprint and smashed into the wall, leaving a little dent in the white wood. Mephiles chuckled at my response. "I beheaded these girls just to see them run around like this. It's quite amusing."

"Yes it is," I laughed. My mind was telling me, _WTF is wrong with you?_ Regardless of this voice, I did not stop giggling at the zombie dolls. I couldn't wait to come back to this room later and watch them some more.

Mephiles laughed again, then sighed. "I think it's time to retire now; it's nearly midnight. We're all tired, and you definitely need your rest. You're working out in the achomedla garden again tomorrow. You will be awakened very early... I don't know what I was thinking, letting you stay up so late." He seemed to be talking more to himself than me now; he took my arm and exited the room full of blind dolls.

When we made it back to my prison, I began to enter the room, but was held back by Mephiles. I looked back at him in question, wondering why he didn't want me to leave. We stared at each other for a long time, then he let go of my arm as if he had decided against something. "Good night." With that, he flitted down the hallway, not looking back.

I looked over to Tails's room to see if he was still awake. I wasn't surprised to see he had fallen asleep since I was in here a while ago. I smiled and changed into a long white nightgown that someone had left on my bed for me. I laid down gently, careful to not irritate my already sore muscles. I let my eyes close, ready to go to sleep.

"Psst. Renata. We're here."

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R&R :)

~gabl


	6. Chapter 6

I was wondering with this chapter if I should make this story an M rating, but I toned it down a little just in case. Let me know what you think of that in the reviews, please. But for now, here's chapter six.

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My eyes flew open and I swung my head around to the room to find myself face-to-face with the ebony hedgehog I had seen with Sonic. Behind him stood the white hedgehog, Sonic, Aidan, Amy, a tan rabbit I didn't know, a lavender cat, and a white bat with black wings and boobs to die for. All, except for the black hedgehog and the bat, looked terrified. The black looked emotionless, and the bat looked very tired with a stupid grin on her face.

"Renata, you're still alive, thank God," Aidan gasped, running up to the bars and grasping my hand. "What has he done to you? Have you been whipped? We want answers!"

The guards were asleep outside, so I decided I could talk. "I want answers too!" I said. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We were plotting plans to help you get away, but we got caught outside the building," the white hedgehog said. I could definitely tell now that he was younger than the black hedgehog and Sonic. His voice wasn't fully matured, but it was getting there. I was going to have to get their names soon.

As if he could read my mind, the white hedgehog smiled and said, "I'm Silver, and this," he continued, pointing to the ebony, who was now standing in the corner as far away from the bat as possible, "is Shadow." He pointed to the bunny: "That's Cream," and at the bat: "and that's Rouge." He put his arm around the cat, who smiled. "And this is my girlfriend Blaze."

"How you doing, beautiful?" Rouge said with a burp that reeked of beer, making me raise an eyebrow. I knew for sure she wasn't 21, probably only 17 or 18.

"Um, I'm okay. I've been better."

Shadow leaned over to me and whispered into my ear, "Don't worry about Rouge. She's just tired and drunk."

"I can hear you over there, naughty boy," she drawled, fluttering her eyelashes at him. She made her way over to him, drunkenly twitching her (huge) butt as she walked. She tripped over her own feet, but scrambled back up and continued walking toward the hedgehog.

"Okay if you guys are gonna be like this tonight get a different room," Cream said. She had to have only been 6 years old, and she clung to a little blue furry animal I knew to be a Chao. I could see why she wouldn't want to see Rouge and Shadow together.

"Choo choo choo-choo choo!" The Chao backed her up, fluttering its little wings.

"Come on Cream and Cheese," Rouge said, putting her arms around Shadow. "You kids need a taste of reality. You're too innocent." With that, she gave him a hickey on the neck.

My eyes widened and Shadow punched Rouge on the arm, his face flushing scarlet. "Rouge, shut up, you're embarrassing me."

My only thoughts were, _O...kay, then. One horny bat SHE is. _

"Enough of this, you guys," Sonic said, looking over Rouge, who was trying to go all over Shadow; he was trying to push her away. "That's disgusting, and there are people who don't need to see that in the room."

"Do I look like I care, blue boy?" Rouge snapped at him, her hands sliding slowly down Shadow's body, much to his despair. "No!"

Silver pulled one of the over-sized bedsheets off of the bed and threw it over the two of them and obscuring the scene. "That's better," he said. Blaze giggled beside him, knitting her fingers in the long fur on his chest.

"I don't think we can do anything about them now," Amy said. "His defenses are already down... way down." Aidan and I snickered, getting the double meaning. Or it could have been a triple meaning. Who knew?

Soon we could hear moaning. Sonic sneaked over to the blanket and lifted up one end gently, dropping it a few seconds later. "Definitely... she's-"

"TMI, TMI, TMI, TMI!" Cream said, covering her ears and squeezing her eyes tight shut. Cheese the Chao did the same fluttering around her head, squealing unintelligible words.

Aidan just sat in the corner, listening to them under the blanket. "I wish I were Rouge right now."

Silver's eyes widened. "Aidan! You're only 12! Why would you want to... you know..."

"TMI, TMI, TMI, TMI, LA LA LA LA LA, NOT LISTENING!"

Aidan shrugged her shoulders, as if the thought were nothing in her eyes. "I'm a curious Mobian, just like I was a curious human back on Earth. Even if I might not be able to get out of a situation, I'm still gonna get myself into it. Plus I can use my tongue like none other." She grinned at her last sentence, looking, ironically, very foxy with her hands on her tilted hips.

My eyes widened. "Aidan... even after so many years, you still amaze me."

"You know I'm a pervert," Aidan replied, pushing her glasses up further onto her nose. She looked around at everyone, shrugging again. "Nata's not as bad as I am, but I'm training her. It's been a long road."

"Okay, I think we can stop discussing this now," Sonic said, pinching Aidan's ear and receiving a really girly slap on the hand from her. "It's getting very late, and we need rest." He walked over to Cream and gently took her hands off of her ears. "It's okay now, Aidan's stopped talking."

Cream sighed with relief. "Thank goodness." Then her eyes widened when she heard Shadow moan, and her hands went back up to her ears. "But I can still hear THEM!"

Aidan walked over to Rouge and Shadow and lifted up the edge of the sheet, just enough to make eye contact with them without seeing too much. "Hey!" Shadow said, annoyed.

"Rouge, I think it's time for you to either stop tongue fucking Shadow or to be silent when you do that. Goes for you too, Shadow, you're being really noisy." I smiled for a second. That was the Aidan I had remembered on earth: overly foul mouthed and blunt, and able to tie humor into everything.

I guess they had decided to stop because Rouge crawled out from under the blanket, fixing her shirt, while Shadow threw the blanket off himself, looking around. "ROUGE! Where did you put my boxers?"

"Still got em honey," she slurred, throwing him a pair of light gray guy underpants that had little red kiss marks all over them. "I decorated them for you."

Shadow groaned. "That's nice to know." He put them on and Sonic started snickering. "It's not funny!" His face turned red again.

"It is to me," Sonic chuckled. "Where'd you get those panties, Victoria's Secret? I thought they only sold thongs."

At that, Aidan was rolling on the floor, tears streaking down her face as she laughed hysterically. Shadow looked ready to beat Sonic's face into the floor as he put on the rest of his clothes.

"Okay guys, seriously, now we really need to go to bed," Blaze said. "It has to be after 1 by now. Night, ladies!"

"Night," we all said together in unison, and I went to my own bed as everyone else claimed a spot on the single bed they all shared. It didn't surprise me to see the couples sleeping either on top of each other or right next to each other, (Shadow kept squirming under Rouge, I was sure he didn't like this), and to see Cream and Aidan, who I figured were still single, in the corner on the bedsheets Rouge and Shadow had been under. My eyelids slammed closed like lead, and I was out within seconds.

Once again, I didn't dream.

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You know what I'm gonna say... R&R, please!

~ GABL


	7. Chapter 7

This is probably my favorite chapter I've written so far, so, enjoy :)

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Waking up the next morning was like waking up at a co-ed summer camp.

"Dude, you kept farting in my face all night!" Shadow complained the next morning to Sonic.

"It's not my fault you decided to sleep right next to my ass," the cobalt blue hedgehog retorted. "You knew I have a funky digestive system."

"It still stinks in here," Silver gasped, waving his hand in front of his nose. "How many chilidogs did you EAT yesterday?"

"Twelve."

"Come ON."

"You're gonna overstuff yourself someday," Amy warned her boyfriend.

"No I'm not," Sonic said, patting his tan stomach. "I've been eating like this for years."

"SHUT THE HELL UP YOU GUYS, I'M STILL TRYING TO SLEEP, DON'T MAKE ME PULL OUT MY FUCKING GUN!" Aidan yelled from the corner, curled up in the blankets.

"Stop cussing, Aidan!"

"Chu!"

"WHO GIVES A FUCK, CREAM CHEESE?"

The whole scenario was quite a sight, and I had to laugh, even though Rouge looked like she was having a really bad hangover in the corner, puking, and Blaze was still passed out on the bed. Aidan did not look asleep at all, but rather pissed off and glaring at everyone.

"Ooh, somebody's getting mad," Amy said in a sarcastic tone. "I'm so scared."

"I will do it you know," Aidan said again, getting angrier, standing now. Cream and I shrank away from her, knowing that once she got mad, she was not afraid to hurt or kill the other person. I didn't exactly want to get in her way if she happened to lunge after Amy to strangle her to death or some crazy crap like that.

"I'd like to see you try," Amy retorted, pulling a huge hammer from thin air and raising it above her head, ready to bring it down.

The room was silent except for Blaze's breathing. Aidan's nose scrunched up and her eyes narrowed, her mouth pressed into a thin line. I could see her frame shaking violently as her blood boiled, and her ears twitched. "Oh shit, you should not have just said that Amy, really bad idea," I said.

Aidan, fast as lightning, grabbed her new favorite pistol I had seen her shoot earlier from the belt on her waist and, darting forward, pressed it against Amy's forehead. "Wanna have a go NOW?" Aidan growled. "It's fully loaded and look." She flipped a switch. "Safety is off."

Amy's eyes widened tremendously with a few tears. Her mouth quivered, and her voice came out in a terrified squeaking noise. "I surrender."

"Good. Now shut up and let me sleep for, what, 10 minutes? That's fair." Aidan smiled brightly, flipping the safety switch back to On and putting her gun away as if it were a piece of candy. She laid back down on the blankets, wrapping her red fox tail around herself.

"Now what would make this PERFECT would be a Yo Mamma Fight," Sonic mumbled with a grin.

"I HEARD THAT."

I burst into laughter, and seconds later heard a quiet yawn from my other side. Looking over, I realized that Tails had awoken. His eyes were half closed as he stretched his arms behind his back. However, his eyes widened when he saw the rest of his little group. He leaped up from the bed and leaned into the bars, grinning. "Sonic!"

"Lil' bro!" Sonic called out, holding up his hand. "How's my main man?"

"Fairly okay," Tails replied, still grinning. "You?"

"Never been worse," the cobalt answered, stretching his legs. "Haven't been able to run freely in a while. It's pissing me off."

"Sorry to hear," the fox responded, his smile fading. Then he caught a sight of Shadow, then of Rouge. "DUDE. Now I really feel sorry for you!"

"You missed last night," Silver said. "They were all, like, WHOA; it was so funny."

"Nice to know you find Rouge's evil amusing," Shadow said, his arms crossed. "You know it wasn't my idea."

"It will be next time, dearest," Rouge drawled, not over her hangover. She strutted over to Shadow and tiptoed her fingers up his chest. He cringed at her puke breath. "You'll be dreaming of me once I'm away. You'll be screaming, struggling as you try to imagine my lips upon yours. Soul mates are meant to be together."

He shivered, but threw her hand to the side. "Whatever. You're just a thief and a money-loving ho who uses men and acts like a bitch when she doesn't get her way. And we are most definitely NOT soul mates. I'd notice if I loved you or not."

Her eyes narrowed. "All right, Shadow the Hedgehog, you asked for it." She kneed him in the crotch, and I could tell she really put her muscles into it because he was on his hands and knees, taking a few shuddering sobbing breaths as pain shot through him.

Sonic comforted him for a moment before looking up at Rouge. "What was that for?" Sonic yelled; Shadow was actually crying, tears streaking down his face as he rubbed his nose, which was getting really snotty and disgusting. It killed my heart to see a boy shed tears after such an attack.

Rouge smiled deviously. "Oh, nothing." With that she picked up her makeup bag and began smoothing about five times more lip plumper than she needed over her mouth. It smelled like cinnamon.

I tapped Amy, who was standing closest to me, on the shoulder. "Do they usually act like this?" I whispered.

"Occasionally," she breathed. "But Shadow never cries like this in public. This is definitely memorable." She yawned. "I need more sleep."

Not seconds later, Mason walked up to my door and entered, bringing me clothes. "Morning, Renata. Mephiles has suggested that today you rest instead of work in garden. Change anyway." He walked out, popping his neck.

"You have to work in a GARDEN?" Cream asked.

"Yeah," I said. "The weather is CRAZY out there. Blistering hot sun one day, freezing the next. Yesterday I thought I was going to die of dehydration."

Cream cocked her head to the side, which I took was a sign that she was confused. "But it was cool and foggy yesterday when we snuck up to the building."

I looked up. "What? No it wasn't, unless the weather is different where you were than the achomedla garden."

"The achomedla?" Sonic said. "Those things are grown in, like, greenhouses with temperature setting things. There's a huge projection above that makes everyone working there THINK that that's the real weather when actually it's all electronic."

Everyone stared wide-eyed at him, then Shadow's eyes brightened as he looked up at the blue hedgehog, smiling wide. "When did you get smart?"

Sonic glared at him. "I've been smart a long time."

"Uh, hate to break it to you Sonic, but most of the time you're completely retarded," Silver said.

"He is not!" Amy yelled.

"Amy, just be quiet for a while, okay?" Sonic said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"No, not as long as they're dissing my BOYFRIEND!" She screamed her words and pulled out her hammer, hanging it threateningly over Silver's head.

"My head hurts," Cream moaned, rubbing her forehead. "I can't stand all of you shouting like this."

"We're sorry, Cream," Tails said from across my room. "I'm not involved in it, if that helps."

The little rabbit looked at him, her frown ebbing and replaced by a small smile. "I'm glad you aren't. If you were I don't think you and I could still like each other."

Sonic chuckled. "You guys are too cute together; if you two broke up I might just have to put it on television."

"As if we ever would," Tails grinned. He then blew a kiss to Cream across the room, which she grabbed as it flew above her head. I smiled, realizing that Cream wasn't single after all, and agreed with Sonic - they were adorable. Young, innocent love.

I noticed seconds later that Aidan was growing more and more distant. It was slightly unnerving. She hadn't spoken since Sonic's Yo Mamma comment, which was somewhat understandable. I figured she was still pissed at him.

But when I looked over to her, I saw that, while she had been sitting in her corner, her eyes had glazed over and her hands were pressed to her temples. She let out a quiet groan that I knew only I could hear.

I knew she was having another vision, but I didn't know what about. All I knew was that it was stressing her out. Was someone dying? Was she being tortured in her vision? Whatever the hell was going on, I wanted to find out soon.

She waved me over, and I rushed to her side; everyone else seemed to be oblivious to her.

She pressed her hands to my temples through the bars. "Look," was all she said before my mind saw the shock, fury, and unimaginable pain of a whip being cracked upon a familiar hedgehog's back in a strange, old-black-and-white-movie-quality scene, faintly hearing his cries for mercy under the unknown character who possessed the torturous weapon, which was slicing through the hedgehog's back, leaving thick streams of blood gushing. Then he put down the whip, and the hedgehog leaped up to grab at the front of the hooded figure, pleading to be set free. Before the hedgehog could take another breath, the figure took a dagger from underneath its hood and slid it through the hedgehog's chest, and began laughing.

_Holy SHIT!_ I leaped back away from her, and as soon as we lost physical contact, the scene flew from my mind, leaving me a bit dizzy from the sudden departure. I had to blink several times before my vision straightened up again and I could see clearly.

Sonic was staring at me like I was high on something; everyone else but Blaze, who was still asleep miraculously, was staring at Aidan with a look that said this had happened before.

Then Shadow ran up to her and shook her hand roughly, trying to break her out of her glassy eyed state. "Aidan! What are you seeing?" I noted that he didn't make her show him the vision, which was probably a good thing considering what she said next.

Her voice barely belonged to her, and her eyes turned to him, wide and afraid. "It's you," she rasped. "Shadow, it's you. You're being murdered."

And with that last comment, she started crying, and a sudden wave of nausea took over her and she threw up all over the floor.

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:O OMFG... R&R.

~gabl


	8. Chapter 8

I don't have much to say about this chapter... more violence with Aidan, I guess, LOL.

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"Ugh!" Rouge yelled in disgust, jumping away from the pile of throw up on the floor. Blaze had awakened at the sickening noise, and Cream whispered into her ear what was happening. I saw that Sonic was waving to a guard I didn't recognize to come clean up. We spoke in low voices so that the guard couldn't hear us.

Amy just stared, frozen. "Shadow? Are you positive that you were seeing Shadow?"

Aidan nodded, then continued in her strange new voice. "My visions are in black and white, but I can definitely tell it's Shadow. Looks exactly like him - same quills, the fur, the shoes, everything."

Shadow sat next to her, looking worried. "How am I dying? I need to know this kind of stuff, y'know."

Aidan groaned, squeezing her eyes tight shut. "You've been whipped until your back has been sliced open. You're begging him to stop, but he just won't. He's stabbing you with a blade."

Shadow's eyes widened. "Who's 'he?'"

Aidan shook her head, unable to answer immediately. Then, "A hooded figure... I think it's a cat... but I can't tell."

"This is bad, this is very bad," he muttered under his breath, putting his head in his hands.

Silver waited until the guard had finished cleaning and had left before speaking. "It might not be. The future is fluid, as we all know. If we change something now, we could prevent Shadow from being murdered."

"True," Aidan allowed. She had pulled herself up and was leaning sideways against the bars that separated my room from theirs. "The future could always change. But if it doesn't then this WILL happen." A fresh tear escaped. "What are we gonna do?"

"I wish I could use Chaos Control to see what was going to happen," Shadow said, looking up again. "But they've taken my Emerald."

"Same here," Silver and Sonic said, one after the other.

"Aidan," Amy said, now standing next to her with her hands on her shoulders and her jade eyes piercing Aidan's bloodshot blue ones. "Look harder into your vision. Try to identify the hooded figure that's hurting Shadow."

"I can't concentrate," Aidan whispered. "This vision is unlike any other. I usually see happy things... not murder."

I had remained quiet; now I felt I needed to speak with Aidan for a second. I waved her over so I could whisper in her ear. "Iron Lotus, it will clear your mind."

She nodded. "Of course. I hadn't thought of that." She sat on the floor, twisting her legs into Iron Lotus position. She straightened up, and with her eyes closed, pressed her pointer fingers and thumbs together.

Meditation had been able to calm her for a long time, and I was glad that she had taught me how to do it so I could recommend it to her now. As we watched her without a sound, I could imagine her thinking of a meadow, filled with long soft grass that swayed gently in the breeze. Summer time, with the sun looking at us through the clouds, heated the breeze and blowing the scent of lavender from the other side of the meadow.

A minute or two later, her eyes opened again. Her voice was no longer the creepy raspy tone that she had taken when she threw up, and we sighed with relief when she spoke. "Okay."

"Now look harder into your vision," Amy repeated. "Try to identify the hooded figure."

Aidan's eyes shut, and she pressed her fingers to her temples. She definitely looked calmer, less like she would shoot anyone who touched her. "Of course I can't see it in full color, but I know this is someone we've never met before. A hybrid... fox and cat. Narrow eyes, and sharp teeth, like a vampire." She shivered. "I was mistaken. Most definitely female."

"How do you know?" Shadow asked.

Aidan's eyes opened and she glared at him. "I don't think a lot of men have a super-thin figure and wear a short skirt, do you?"

"Well, no, not really..." Shadow stammered.

"Didn't think so." She lifted her head in what could be seen as a look of supremacy. "Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that... I think she's really searching for us, our little group." She shifted so that she was sitting in a normal cross legged position. "But here's my question: is she just searching for Shadow? Or is she planning on using him to get information to find the rest of us, and does she want to murder him because he couldn't or wouldn't give her any information?"

My best friend was being a detective. Go figure.

Cream shivered. "I hope neither, honestly."

"Well she must want to murder Shadow for a reason," Tails said. "Who knows? Maybe she just wanted to inflict fear upon us."

"That could be true," Blaze said. "But, as Amy Lee of Evanescence once said, _'Fear is only in our minds, taking over all the time.'_ We need to get past the fear that Shadow could be killed." We nodded in agreement.

"So what are we going to do?" I asked.

There was silence as everyone thought for a moment. Then, Amy said, "We could try to sneak out of here and get an Emerald so someone can find that serial killer hybrid."

"Too risky," Shadow automatically said. "If we get caught we WILL be killed, for certain. All of us."

"Shadow's got a point," Sonic said. "I hear that electric chair is pretty scary."

"ANYWAY," Amy said, trying to get them off of that subject. "Does anyone have any other ideas?" When nobody said anything, she straightened up, her jade eyes grave. "Then trying to get that Emerald is the only thing we can do."

"Wait."

Everyone turned to look at me. "Renata? Do you have something to say?" Silver asked.

"What if I just tried to talk to Mephiles?" I asked, feeling like an idiot for suggesting such a thing. "I doubt they're on the same side. I bet if we got him to side with us that the hybrid cat thingy would leave us alone."

"Hm," Aidan said, stroking her muzzle. Then she grinned. "I think that's the easiest thing we can do, Amy."

"I have to agree with Renata on this one," Shadow said. "I haven't known her for long, but she seems like she's got some brains."

I blushed.

"I say Nata's idea is good too," Sonic added.

"Same here." Silver grinned at me as he said the words.

Everyone else responded yes... that is, until I got to Rouge. "No."

"Why not, Rouge?"

"Well, FIRST of all, Re-na-ta," she said, her hands on her perfect hips, saying each syllable of my name separately in a hard tone. "I happen to be an extremely successful jewel thief, in more ways than one, and I've worked for YOUR government as a spy before. I never got demoted, just promoted. So I wouldn't get caught if you wanted me to go find your precious Emeralds. SECOND of all..."

"Shut up, just shut the fuck up," Aidan hissed in her face. "We don't want to hear your stupid crap about the government AGAIN when your so called boyfriend, who doesn't love you, is supposedly going to be dead soon."

Rouge glared at her. "I can do whatever I bloody well please, little girl, and nobody is going to stop me, not even with that kind of mouth."

I saw it coming; Aidan's gun flew from her pocket, pressed to Rouge's temple. "NOBODY calls me a little girl."

Rouge gently pushed it to the side. "Chillax, I didn't mean any harm."

Aidan put the gun back on her belt, but suddenly her hand darted up to clasp around Rouge's neck. With her intimidating behavior, she backed the slutty white bat up against the wall. "I know very well you meant harm."

"Rouge, stop being an ass and leave Aidan alone. You're being overly mean to her and I don't like it one bit."

My eyes widened. "Shadow? Why are you so concerned about this?"

He blushed slightly and began stammering again. "Well, I like to be involved in these things. I mean, Aidan's my friend, and I stand up for my friends."

"Sounds a lot like you've got a crush on her," Sonic said, grinning.

He might as well have just dropped a bomb on himself.

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I like the ending :D R&R :P

~ GaBl


	9. Chapter 9

GrapeStripes requested for her character to make an appearance in this story, so here she is! :) I hope you like this part, GS!

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"I DO NOT!" Shadow yelled at Sonic, but I saw his muzzle flush red at the thought of liking my friend.

"Ooh, denial!"

"It is NOT denial! It is the truth!"

"Y'know, just the fact that you're denying the fact that you're denying-"

"Am I going to have to STRANGLE you so that you'll stop talking?"

Sonic went pale and shut up after that. Aidan gave him a grateful smile for changing the subject, which he returned sweetly. _God, he is such a nice guy. _

I was concentrating on a little piece of dust sitting on the floor at my feet when I heard a knocking noise that nearly made me jump out of my skin. Mason walked into the room again, carrying a small white piece of paper. "Letter for you," he said.

I took the paper from the albatross and he left the room again. It was a small envelope the size of my hand, and it had intricate gold vine designs along the edge of it. It was heavy, like the paper a birthday card is made from, and I tore it open gently.

I read it aloud as my friends all came closer so they could hear me.

""Dear Renata, I am seeking your help... the help of you and your friends. You have to trust me, as I can be of great assistance to you. I am a trained warrior, and have gone into combat many times. I am aware that your little group of friends has many talents, but you don't have anyone like me. I can take a knife through a man as easily as take a knife through butter. When I am in battle, I show no mercy for the enemy.""

I cleared my throat nervously and continued. ""This is why you must join my team. My sister and I are the only ones in it right now, and I consider everyone who is not on my team an enemy, which means you too. I don't want to have to hurt you, but if you do not join, then I just might have to kill one of your members, and it will bring cataclysmic results to your plans.""

Shadow gasped. "Does that mean me?"

"I think so," Aidan said, her voice thick with fear and her eyes widening.

"Cata-whatwhat?"

"Cataclysmic. It means disastrous," Silver told Cream. "We better do what this chick says. Aidan's vision will come true if we don't."

"Hell yeah we should," I murmured, then continued. ""I promise you that this is not a trap. I may sound shady when I say this, but you have to put your trust in me. Please join my team... Team Pureblood. With utmost respect for now, C.""

"C?" Sonic looked confused.

"It just says C," I said. "Maybe she'll tell us her full name if - I mean, _when_ we meet her." I waved at Mason, who hobbled forward immediately. "Is the sender of the message still around?"

He nodded. "She out in hallway. Do you wish to see her?" When I nodded, he ran off.

"Man, that guy is seriously FAT," Rouge said after he was out of earshot.

Cream glared at her. "Be nice. He's FLUFFY, not fat."

Sonic snorted.

Mason came back a minute or so later, leading a small girl behind him. She had a gray long sleeved coat on with a hood that obscured her face in darkness. I couldn't even see her eyes. I saw a short, but sharp sword on her hip and shivered as I remembered Aidan's vision of her stabbing the blade into Shadow's heart. I waved him out, then looked at "C".

She was, now that I could get a good look at her, a bit shorter than Aidan, with a paper-thin figure like Aidan said. She didn't seem to have hit that age where she could get curves (like Rouge), but I didn't notice that at first. I stepped up to her and gently took the hood off of her head.

At first, C seemed pretty normal. Her hair was a soft, shimmering amethyst-lavender that hung to a bit below her shoulders, and her muzzle was a light gray. A tuft of purple fur on her forehead extended like bangs over her face. The small smile curving at her mouth gave her a child-like appearance, but I knew she was no child.

The sight of her eyes made me give a slight shudder of horror. Her eyes, where they were supposed to be a pure white, were instead an intense, onyx black; her irises were a dark red with no pupils. They were dull as stone, and little light seemed to flicker off of them. They were cold, soulless, as if her sense of living had been sucked from her and all that remained was an empty shell of what she had been. I couldn't tell how old she was with those eyes.

"Don't pretend to not be afraid," she said. Her voice was adult, tinged with insanity. "I know that I scare you. I can tell."

"Who are you, exactly?" Aidan asked her. "I mean, we know you're 'C', but what does that symbolize or whatever?"

"It is the first letter of my name, of course," the strange girl said. "It's short for Caroline. I'm Caroline the Fox-Cat." She did a funny little curtsy, grinning.

"Gotcha," Shadow said. "Y'know, in my friend's vision, I was the one you would be killing right now if we didn't join your Pureblood Team."

"Is that so?" Caroline sneered. "You better join then, 'cause you look like a pretty important character, not to mention a sexy one."

Shadow said nothing about her flirtatious comment. "You better back off my man unless you want my boot up your ass," Rouge growled. Caroline ignored her.

"You don't have to worry about us not wanting to be in your group," I said, ignoring Rouge too. "Count me in."

"I'll join," Aidan said, standing up. We met our gazes and grinned.

Caroline smiled. "Anyone else? You don't all have to join," she added, seeing a few of the others' unsureness.

Sonic and Amy looked at each other. "Then we're not going to join," she murmured after a moment.

Caroline just nodded. "Understood. I will treat you like allies, though I will never have full trust in you."

"I'll join," Silver smiled, putting an arm around Blaze. "And my girl is coming with me."

"I'm definitely joining," Shadow grinned. "I love the name Pureblood. Plus I don't exactly want to die quite yet."

"I'm with Shadow." At the sound of Rouge's voice, the ebony groaned and said something under his breath that sounded vaguely like, "Clingy bitch just can't get off of me."

I suppressed a giggle. I looked down at the note, which I had been clinging in my fist, and reread it.

I saw something I must have missed before. "It says that so far it's only you and your sister on the team. Where is your sister?"

A flicker of agony shot across Caroline's face, but was soon replaced by a cool mask. "Home, healing. She was horribly wounded in battle." Her words were clipped, and I could tell that she didn't like having her sister apart from her.

"Well she has my best wishes of good health," I said formally, putting my hand over my heart.

Caroline smiled and mimicked the motion.

"Is there anything we can do to help her heal?" Shadow asked.

Caroline thought for a moment, rubbing her muzzle. "If we had some real Chaos power she would heal at four times the speed."

Sonic and Shadow looked at each other, then Shadow looked at Caroline. "I have Chaos power infused into my blood. If I had an Emerald I'd be able to heal her."

Caroline's face brightened, and her voice lowered. "I have the blue Emerald. If we could get you out of here, or my sister to you, we would be great, and you could heal her."

"If she's really wounded that badly then I'm gonna have to get out of here to save her the trouble of coming here." Shadow's voice rippled through us, giving us hope.

"Of course," Caroline said. She mused happily over the idea, then grinned ever wider. "Do you think it would be possible to send... waves of health to her mentally, over a long distance?"

Shadow thought. "It could be possible, but I've never heard of such a thing. We could try, though," he added.

Without another word, Caroline looked around her for guards. When she saw we were safely alone, she reached deep into her coat and pulled out a shimmering sapphire Chaos Emerald, radiating power. She handed it through the bars of the window to Shadow, who took it with both hands and closed his eyes. His eyebrows furrowed and his lips curved down into a deep frown as he concentrated on whatever he was doing.

A minute passed.

Then another.

A third minute went by.

Then Shadow grinned, showing straight white teeth. "I can feel her body strengthening. She's healing!"

Caroline clapped, laughing with delight. "Thank you so much, Shadow." She took the Emerald back from him. "I'll keep that."

Shadow nodded his head, then stepped away from her.

Caroline grinned. "Just curious... do any of you wanna get out of here?"

"Do you have to ask?" Sonic said.

Caroline shrugged. "The thing is that I think I can get you out."

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*gasp* R&R! OMFG!

_Sadly I don't have any more chapters completed right now, so it might be a while before I update again. But chapter 10 is a W.I.P., so it might be up soon :D_

So, bye for now!

~ GABL


	10. Chapter 10

**Okay. MUCH by popular demand (looking at you, Bella Cullen-Luckier Than You and GrapeStripes), I'm putting up chapter ten now. Sorry to keep you waiting so long, BCLTY & GS :(**

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"Are you fucking serious?" Aidan half-screamed, much to Cream's dismay.

Caroline grinned. "I'm serious. I think I can get you out of here."

"Oh, that's SO EPIC! OMIGODOMIGODOMIGODOMIGOD!" She started jumping up and down, giggling and hiccuping. Her blood sugar was really low, I knew from experience, and her emotions could go into overdrive when it was low.

Shadow put a hand on her shoulder. "Aidan... calm down. You haven't had breakfast yet, you need to stay calm."

"Ooh, now I'm hungry," Blaze said with a smile. "What IS for breakfast?"

As if he had been spying on us (which I desperately hoped he hadn't), Mephiles stepped up to our cells just then with a smile. Everyone got really quiet, but he had eyes only for me, which disturbed me slightly. "Good morning, ladies," he said in a slightly sarcastic tone.

"Morning," we (even the guys) replied in small voices.

He gave me a one-over, then said, "You need to change out of that gown and get your real clothes on before we go eat."

I looked at the crumpled pile of fabric laying on my bed. "Alright."

He stepped away from the cell, keeping his eyes everywhere but on me as I removed my gown and slipped on my real clothes. Today it was a light blue cotton tank top and a jean skirt. I liked it a lot.

When I finished, he opened the doors to our cells. "I think we can all go eat now. Stick together and follow me." He sprinted ahead of us while we all, except for speedy Sonic, Silver and Shadow, tried to keep up. I saw the grin on Sonic's face and knew that he loved the run.

I could smell the food before I actually found the room it was stored in. This morning it was scrambled eggs, greasy bacon and heavily buttered toast. Caroline wrinkled her nose at the smell of oil, but I took in deep breaths of the comforting scent as we found the dining room.

The room was about the size of an intermediate school cafeteria, with different round tables set up around the room. There were only four chairs to a table, so I knew that we all couldn't all sit at the same table and discuss our impromptu escape in quiet voices. Aidan, Tails, Sonic and I snagged a table while the rest of the gang sat at different tables closely surrounding us. Wherever Shadow sat, Rouge tried to follow, and he had to keep getting up and moving. He finally snagged a table where Rouge couldn't sit next to him, and I giggled mentally as she pouted and sat next to Amy, picking at her toast.

Sonic was a gentlemen and got all four of us our plates of food, getting me extra bacon, which made me smile widely. As Aidan tore through her first piece, she pressed her non-greased hand against my arm.

A few seconds later I felt the presence that I had sensed when she had shown me her Vision. If I closed my eyes, I could see it. It was a small, dark blue orb that pulsed with an aqua light every second or so. Then a thought came to me that wasn't mine. _Hey, whatcha think of this whole Get out of Jail Free card Caroline's playing?_

I was so shocked that I almost shot a half-chewed eggs and toast mixture out of my nose. "Aidan, what are you doing?"

"Ssh," she hissed quietly. "I'm speaking to you through my thoughts, baka." "Baka" was Japanese for "idiot" (also Spanish for "cow", according to her), and it was a term Aidan loved and used often. (Whenever she wanted to use the Japanese and Spanish version of the word at the same time back on earth, she said "baka two", and that way she could call someone a stupid cow without getting busted for it.)

My eyes widened. "How the HELL-"

"I have no fucking clue. Don't say any more." Then she began thinking thoughts to me. _Like I said, what do you think about this escape plan?_

"Can you hear my thoughts?" I breathed.

"Yes."

I closed my eyes for a moment, then directed my unspoken words to the dark blue orb in my mind as I chewed my bacon. _I honestly don't know what to think of it. I have work to do here._

She internally rolled her eyes. _Work, shmork. We need to get the hell out of here unless you wanna be Ol' Mephie's slave for the rest of your life. So, stay or not stay?_

I hesitated. _Not stay._

_Then we need to listen to that Caroline chick. I like her a lot. Kind of reminds me of a young girl version of Freddy Krueger._

_I should've known you would make such a comparison. After all, he's in your favorite series._

Aidan snickered quietly. "What are you two gigglin' about over there?" Sonic asked.

"Nothing," Aidan said. "I'll tell you later."

By the look in Sonic's eyes I wasn't sure if he wanted to know at all, but he kept the rest of his face straight and put another huge bite of eggs in his mouth.

The rest of the meal was spent in silence; we all filed back into our prisons soon after. When we got back, and after Mephiles had walked away with a "Good day," it was all clamor and voices directed at our new friend.

"We get to go home?"

"Are you sure you can get us out of this hellhole?"

"Are we going to see all our friends again?"

"Is Renata coming with us?"

At that question, Caroline looked straight at me with her disorienting eyes. "That's something she will have to decide for herself. As part of Team Pureblood, she has free will to do what she pleases, as long as she doesn't betray me." I swear, right when she said that, the light from the window behind her glinted silver off of the dagger she kept on her hip. I suppressed a shiver.

Sonic glanced out the door of the cell in boredom, drumming his fingers on his thigh. From where he sat, he could see into the room where visitors were told to wait if they wanted to see someone in the prison, and when he looked in, his expression changed. He became more alert, straightening up, and his ears twitched. From outside, Mason's rough voice said, "You wish to speak with Caroline?"

At the sound of her name being said, Caroline's fur rose and she turned slowly toward the noise. She took a deep breath, smelling the air around her. Then a grin spread across her face. "What is it?" Amy asked her.

"My sister..." Caroline's voice was choked slightly with a small, happy sob. She walked closer to the door just as Mason opened it, leading another little girl cloaked in gray behind him. "Bella."

"She need talk with you," Mason said before exiting again. Caroline stepped closer to the girl, putting her hand on top of her head. Then she pulled the hood off.

Like Caroline, Bella seemed to be pretty normal at first sight. She appeared to be a three-way hybrid: Hedgehog, Fox, and Cat, though the last two were more prominent than the hedgehog in her. Her muzzle was a pure white, and her fur was a beautiful dark gray, like a thunderstorm cloud. Her hair of the same color extended in wavy sections to her waist. She had 3 small points of fur that covered part of her face like Amy's hair did. She was about my height, just a little shorter. She walked slowly and seemed to depend on her right leg more than her left for strength, as she had a mild limp that was only noticeable if you really looked at it.

Again, like Caroline, her eyes stunned me, but in a different way. They were completely covered with a white blindfold, as if she wanted to hide them from the world. There was a large bloodstain on the top edge of the blindfold where a newly healed scar on her forehead was. It must have been an open wound when Shadow healed her.

"Bella..." Caroline wrapped her arms around her, not seeming to care that Bella didn't return the hug. But I saw pencil eraser sized wet spots appear on her blindfold. Other than those tears, there were no signs that Bella showed any emotion towards this meeting.

"Bella, I thought you were going to die, then my new friend Shadow saved you. Could you feel his Chaos presence there?"

"So that's the explanation for my bones being healed and the skin on my head being knitted back together unexpectedly." Her voice was soft and fluttering, like an angel's wing, but she also carried a motherly and, right now, stern tone in it. "That hurt like crap, Caroline."

"I'm sorry," Caroline said, looking up at her with wide eyes, even though I knew Bella couldn't see them. "But you're alive now, correct? And you're fully healed?"

"Not fully," Bella said, gesturing to her blindfolded face with a wave of her hand. I guessed that there was something wrong with her eyes. "Just partially. You know I'll never be whole again."

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**Hm... I like the ending. What about you? :D R&R.**

**~gabl**


	11. Chapter 11

_**You probably already know what I'm gonna say. I'm sorry I haven't posted, blahbittyblahblah... I'll save you the trouble of reading that and just let you go straight to the chapter this time.**_

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After a few seconds of silence, Bella asked, "Did you get any new members on Pureblood while I was in recovery?"

"Actually yes I did," Caroline said happily, guiding Bella into a seated position on the floor. "I got..." She counted us. "Six new members."

Bella smiled widely - the first true sign of emotion I'd seen from her. "Excellent. Please tell me about them."

Caroline scratched the back of her head. "I don't know much about them yet. I think they can tell you though. Who wants to start?"

"I will," Shadow offered. "I'm Shadow the Hedgehog, and I'm the Ultimate Life Form."

"I've heard of you," Bella said. "I've heard you're a total dick to those you don't like and can't get enough of Rouge the Bat sucking off you."

"N-None of that is true," he said quickly, his face turning bright red.

"Whatever. Next."

"I'm Rouge," the slutty bat said. "I'm the world's greatest jewel thief and Shadow's girlfriend."

"Cut it out with the girlfriend thing!" Shadow snarled in her ear. "We are OVER."

"Again, whatever. Next," Bella said, an amused expression on her face despite her bored words.

"I'm Silver the Hedgehog," Silver said shyly. "I can make things levitate."

"Telekinesis is a powerful thing to have," Bella said with a grin. "Glad to have you. Who's next?"

"I'm Blaze the Cat. I'm Silver's girlfriend, and I have pyrokinesis."

"Again, that's powerful. I like fire immensely." She laughed a little creepily. "Nice to have you with us, Blaze."

"Aidan the Fox, at your service. I can see the future in Visions and can speak through my thoughts when I come in physical contact with people."

"Awesome! A Vision Seer is definitely helpful." Bella thought for a second. "One last person, correct, Caroline?"

"Correct. Renata?"

I stood there for a half second, not knowing what to say. But, since it wouldn't do a lick of good for me to lie, and everyone was staring at me like they expected me to say something, I said, "I'm Renata the Echidna. I don't know what my power is yet, but I go wherever Aidan is going."

"You will discover it, I'm sure," Bella said with a smile. Then she looked around the room. "I want to thank you for being with me. It's a great pleasure knowing that I have more than just my sister for support. Not that she's bad support," sensing Caroline tense up beside her.

"We get what you're saying," Silver smiled. When Bella grinned back at him, Blaze put a possessive arm around his waist and gave her a small glare. I rolled my eyes. It wasn't like Bella and Silver were flirting with each other.

"So, what are we gonna do now?" Shadow asked. "I don't expect to sit in this cell for very long, you know."

"Don't worry Shadow, I won't let you be bored," Rouge said, sliding her arms around him. He whacked them away like she was a fly.

"Well I should think we should get our asses out of here before Mephiles catches on to what we're working on," Sonic said.

"Sonic has a point." Amy smiled up at him as she said her words. I swear, they had such a connection that I probably would never have. Sigh.

Speaking of which, I hadn't once considered getting a boyfriend on this planet. I had been single on earth since 7th grade, when I had caught my old boyfriend cheating on me with this super-hot chick (cheerleader, ugh). I had bitch slapped him, and it felt GOOD, too. He'd been a jerk anyway.

I didn't know anybody on this planet that was single and looking. Maybe that green hedgehog I had seen out in the achomedla garden... probably not, though. I couldn't see myself kissing or going to see a movie with him. Sure, we might talk, but I didn't see us as more than friends.

Shadow? Hell no. He had too many chicks drooling over him already, and as hot as he was, I didn't blame them. I'd save him the trouble of having to deal with even more girls. Plus, Rouge intimidated me, to be honest, and I knew she'd beat me to the pulp.

I racked my brain, but everyone else I knew was taken. Except for one guy...

_NO. Absolutely not,_ I told myself firmly. _I will not go out with MEPHILES THE DARK. _I repeated that like a mantra over and over in my head. He was freakishly weird, and scary as hell too. Plus he had this unnerving way of changing opinions about me every 5 minutes.

"Renata? You okay?"

Aidan's voice brought me back to reality. For once I wished I could turn invisible. I must have been in deeper thought than I had figured I was. "Yeah, I'm fine." Which was mostly true, except that I couldn't get that weird idea of dating Mephiles out of my mind. It was creepy.

"You're just really quiet, I was just wondering." She gave me a wide, sweet smile, but in her eyes I saw a dash of concern. "You can tell me what's up, you know that, right?"

I ducked my head, half-covering my eyes with my dreads like Emo guys do with their awful hair so she couldn't see me. "Yes, but..."

"But what?" It was so hard not to tell her when she pressed on me like that. I finally came up with an excuse.

"I'm not ready to tell you. It's insane, and I don't know how true it is yet."

She understood immediately, and she patted my hand in comfort. She wasn't the best with advice, but I knew she was good at comforting. I gripped onto her hand like I was about to ride a seriously fast and loop-filled roller coaster, which I probably was considering what was spinning around in circles in my thoughts. I knew, if she were actually in my room and not in the one next to me, she would've pulled me into one of her famous hugs (the kinds that nearly snap your spine in two, but feel so loving at the same time) and told me everything was going to be okay, that she was there for me. Her hand alone was good for now, though, and I smiled up at her, gleeful when she returned it.

I felt more ready to say what was going on in my mind now than I was just a few seconds ago, and I took a deep breath. I whispered to her, "Find my mind."

A moment later, I felt the navy blue presence in my head, and I knew it was safe to tell her._ I think I'm starting to like Mephiles the Dark._

She tensed up immediately. _What? No fucking way! You're saying total bullshit, right?_

_No, I'm completely serious, Aidan, I wouldn't tell you BS. I am starting to like him, a lot. Freakishly a lot._

_Renata. That's fucked up. He wouldn't be good for you, I just know he wouldn't._ She mentally shook her head.

_I know. But he's just... well... I don't know why the hell I like him, I just do._

She thought in private for a second, then said, _Do you think you may have an attraction to power?_

I considered that thought. _Possibly. Mephiles is loaded head to toe with it. He practically bathes in it._

Aidan was quiet. I knew she was deciding on whether or not to say something. I didn't even have to be connected to her mentally to tell - her eyes were shifting left and right slowly, looking at the floor. Her mouth was curved down in a slight frown.

_You can tell me,_ I said. _I won't tell a soul._

She slowly exhaled and looked me in the eye. _I have a ginormous crush on Ebony behind me._

I looked behind her and saw Rouge cuddling up to the guy she was talking about. _I'm assuming Ebony is Shadow?_

_Yeah._ She blushed as she thought. _I liked him the instant I laid eyes on him. Anyway, I'm tired. I'm gonna disconnect now. I need to rest my head for a moment._

_Okay, honey. _I closed my eyes and watched the navy blue orb withdraw from my mind like she was disappearing from an online IM room, and I was alone with my thoughts again. I put my head in my hands, peeking through my fingers at the floor.

_What the crap did I just tell Aidan? That I liked the most unlikable being alive? Oh dear God, now I REALLY want to be invisible. I so wish I could turn invisible, that'd be so awesome._

I heard a gasp from the prison that held Aidan and the others, and I looked up. Caroline was staring at me in an open, gaping mouth goldfish look. "It's rude to stare for too long," I told her.

"But Renata, look at yourself," Sonic said. He too had a dropped jaw as he looked at me.

I wrinkled my eyebrows together and looked down at my hand. "HOLY CRAP!" I shouted with a little jump. My body was almost completely transparent, and it was becoming more by the second. Soon my hand disappeared from my sight, and I looked at the rest of myself. I was truly invisible, even my clothes. I looked up at Sonic and Caroline.

Now everyone was staring at me, or at least, the area where I had been sitting. After a few seconds of shocked silence, I saw Shadow grin. "Renata, I think you might be the key to get us out of here."

* * *

**_Zomigod! SHE HAS A POWER! AND A CRUSH ON THE BAD GUY! Ooh!_**

**_Gwen: Wait, how come I'M not in the story?_**

**_I needed to give you a break. I'm sure you enjoy fucking Shadow in your spare time anyways, on AND off .  
_**

**_Gwen: *blush* No need to declare it to the world, GABL._**

**_^_^ But I can anyway, dearest Gwen, since I'm your owner._**

**_Gwen: Whatever. I'll be back next chapter... *stalks off*_**

**_Anyway, sorry about that. R&R,_**

**_~ GABL_**


	12. Chapter 12

_**Gwen: This chapter depresses me... **_

_**Why?**_

_**Gwen: YOU should know, you wrote it.**_

_***big innocent eyes* Who, me? Dear little me, write something DEPRESSING?**_

_**Gwen: You do it all the time.**_

_**I do NOT.**_

_**Gwen: Okay, what-fucking-ever. I'll just let the dear little FanFiction readers get along with the story now. *looks at you* Stock up on happy before going any further.  
**_

_**Oh yeah! Heh heh, sorry guys, I forgot you were there. ^^; Anyway... yeah. Enjoy!**_  
_**

* * *

**_

"How could I help us out?" I asked. My head was a little dizzy from the realization that I could turn myself invisible. Again I felt that little bubbling excitement deep in my chest that I had found my power. I willed myself to become visible again and saw Amy's relieved face that I was still there.

"You could sneak out of here and get us some Chaos Emeralds," Bella said in a low voice. "Then we might be able to take down the Dark." She shuddered. "I hate him so much."

"Total agreement, Sister," Caroline said.

"Okay, so where are the Emeralds?" I asked, sitting down and mentally preparing myself to keep a list in my head.

"He keeps them in a vault in the testing labs," Shadow said. "It's hard to get to, but I'm sure you can find it. You're really smart."

"If I can remember where the testing labs are," I muttered to myself. I looked up at their expectant faces. "So when do I go to find them?"

"I think you should go now," Sonic said. "The sooner the better."

And the less time I have to talk myself out of it, I thought. "Okay." I looked around for guards, then willed myself to become invisible again. It happened faster this time, and within seconds, I was completely transparent. I was pretty thin, so I slipped out between the bars of the gate without squashing myself to death, and then I was out.

And I had no idea what to do next.

Just then, I saw Mephiles start walking down the hallway, and he had a death grip on someone as he was dragging them to the testing lab. As I got a better look at them, I realized with a little shock that the guy who was getting tested on was the green hedgehog I had made friends with out in the garden.

He was jerking away from the Dark with all his strength, but he couldn't get away. "Let me go you creep!" he screamed.

"Manic, I am NOT going to put up with you today!" Mephiles snapped at him. "You've stolen enough from me already! This day is your last!"

Manic's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, and then suddenly he was begging. "No! Please, no! NOT THE CHAIR!"

I felt my own eyes widen, and I almost let out a little squeak. So they weren't going to the lab! Mephiles was going to kill Manic for thievery!

Suddenly I wanted to throw up. I wondered if that would be invisible too. I knew the sounds wouldn't be, though, so I swallowed back the impulse and watched them continue down the hallway. As they passed me, Manic came so close to me I could touch him, but I held back that impulse, too.

But I felt my feet follow them before I could keep them back as well. For some reason I had to follow them. I forgot about the Emeralds momentarily and continued down the hall quietly behind them, listening to Manic's pleadings for mercy.

We passed the testing lab, and I kept a mental note in my head on where it was so I could come back to it later for the Emeralds.

We reached a door I had never seen before. It was painted red and black, and there were several signs covering it. "KEEP OUT!" "WARNING!" "HAZARDOUS!" "DO NOT ENTER WITHOUT AUTHORITY!" "GO NO FURTHER!" They reminded me of the signs that covered Aidan's bedroom door back on earth, and I suppressed a really-innapropriate-for-the-situation giggle. Mephiles punched in a password and the door opened just long enough for all three of us to enter before it slammed closed again.

Inside it was slightly darker than it was in the hallway, and before me, I saw what looked like a throne. It had chains covering it, and the entire thing was stained a rust colored red. I knew that was dried blood, and I felt a chill run along my spine as I remembered what Tails said. _"They start smoking as soon as they get buzzed, and they explode in less than a minute. It gives a new meaning to raining blood."_

Mephiles picked Manic up and threw him into the chair, and the chains slithered around him immediately. Manic started to cry, the tears staining his face. "Please, Mephiles. I'm too young to die. I'm only fifteen! I have a brother, a sister! I need to see Sonic and Sonia!"

_Wait, Manic and Sonic are brothers?_ I thought. I looked at Manic again. They did look similar.

"Then you should've known better than to try to steal from me." Mephiles walked away from the chair to a control panel over at the other side of the room. Manic's head lowered and his sobs grew quieter as he shook with fear. He was sure this would be his end.

I hurried over to him as quietly as possible and whispered to him. "It's going to be okay."

He lifted his head and looked around. "Who's there? Show yourself. Someone is here, I know there is."

"You're hearing voices," Mephiles said, not looking away from the buttons he was pressing. "Soon you'll stop."

I gently put my hand on his and was relieved when he didn't scream, but just flinched. "Manic, I'm here. You met me out in the achomedla fields. I'm Renata."

He finally turned to my voice. "Then why can't I see you?" he whispered.

"I can turn invisible," I explained under my breath. "I'm right here for you. You don't have to be afraid of death."

He looked down for a second, and his hand stopped trembling. "I'm not scared anymore, Renata."

"That's good," I whispered.

I felt electricity travel through the air, and I reluctantly stepped away from the chair to keep myself from getting electrocuted myself. Then I saw a blinding spark on the top of the throne, and for a split second, I could see Manic's skeleton.

He began convulsing; his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and I resisted a scream. A thin smoke radiated from his ears, his nose, around his eyes, and his mouth, and somehow I knew his body was burning on the inside. The sight was so grotesque, but I couldn't look away. I had to keep watching.

Several moments later, I heard a loud boom, and his body was no longer there. I felt several wet drops land on my skin from above, and I didn't have to look to see that they were his blood.

I looked over at Mephiles, and saw that he looked ready to cry as well, as if he hadn't wanted to do what he had just done. He had just murdered someone, and I had just witnessed it. He ran to the door and it opened; I snuck out behind him.

Luckily, Manic's blood was invisible along with the rest of me, so I didn't have to worry about it showing up. But if I touched something, the blood would smear there, so I mostly kept my hands off of everything.

I found the testing lab again and, since the door was unlocked, I went in with ease. Everything looked the same, and, pressing the image of Manic dying out of my mind, I looked around for a hidden door.

I found one, the seam just barely visible in the wall, and pressed on it. It opened, and I realized this was the room with the headless zombie dolls. _Mephiles must have taken the lock off 'cause there was a lock here last time I saw it._

Today they didn't run around like usual. They were sitting calmly on the counters, seeming to whisper to each other as I walked by, though I knew they couldn't see me, even if I weren't invisible. I walked through the room to the door at the other side. It had a keypad, and when I came within 2 feet of the door, it asked me for a password.

I thought of whatever could be a password around here. Power? Electricity? Mephiles? Darkness? I tried all of those, and none of them worked.

Then, on a whim, I punched in my own name. It blipped green, and the door opened.

I was amazed. _My name is the password?_ I stepped into the room, and the door closed behind me.

Inside, everything was a deep, scarlet red, and it reminded me all too much of Manic's blood, which reminded me of his face when he had heard he was going to die. I shook my head, trying to keep the tears from leaking out of my eyes, and looked around.

On little red, silk pillows, I saw six Chaos Emeralds blinking up at me. I stowed them under my shirt, and they became invisible as well, and I ran out of the rooms and was in the hallway again.

I found my prison and slipped through the bars. In the other prison, I saw Aidan meditating. Shadow, Amy, and Sonic were talking quietly to each other. Rouge was polishing her fingernails hot pink, and Cream was sitting next to her painting Rouge's toenails a dark red. Silver and Blaze sat in silence, looking around. Caroline and Bella were talking in the corner while looking through some papers that I saw had PUREBLOOD printed along the top. Tails was playing with marbles in his room.

I sat down on the bed noisily, and everyone looked to my prison. I slowly became visible again, and everyone gasped when they saw the blood and the glow of the Emeralds under my clothes. I hid the jewels under my blanket and looked straight at the cobalt blue hedgehog. "Sonic, Manic is dead. Mephiles electrocuted him."

* * *

_**Gwen: T^T Told you it was depressing.**_

_**It's not depressing, it's just kinda sad and sudden. Heehee, I just used alliteration!**_

_**Gwen: *exaggeratedly rolls eyes* I'm gonna go talk to Shadow.**_

_**;) Have fun!**_

_**Gwen: WHATEVER! *runs off***_

_**Well, hopefully THAT'S taken care of... anyway... R&R, I'll be back soon with chapter 13, my lovelies!**_

_**~ GABL**_


	13. Chapter 13

**Took me forever to finish this chapter for some reason :P**

**Gwen: You were too busy writing oneshots to add stuff to this, am I correct?**

**Hey! The oneshots are more popular than this story is!**

**Gwen: Because you never update this one.**

**... Point made. Anyway, by popular demand, meaning for BC-LTY and Grapes, here is chapter thirteen! This one, in my opinion, is one of my better chapters that I've written.**

**Gwen: Modest much? -_-*  
**

**Nope! Okay, just read it :D  
**

* * *

Sonic's eyes went through a very fast change of emotions: confused, sad, angry, enraged, confused again, and then he was shedding quiet sobs. Amy wrapped her arms around him and hugged him in comfort. Everyone's heads lowered in memory of Sonic's brother.

"How did you know he was electrocuted? And why are you covered in blood?" Tails asked. His voice was choking.

"I followed Mephiles and Manic into the room with the chair, and... I watched Manic die. This is his blood." I felt myself start to cry too. "I couldn't have stopped Mephiles even if I had tried. I could have left the room, but I was so scared. All I could do was watch everything happen."

"And you still got the Chaos Emeralds, correct?" Shadow asked.

I lifted up the blanket on my bed so he could see them, and I saw him sigh in relief. "I did, but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have nightmares about Manic now."

"Oh Renata, I wish you didn't have to see that," Amy said, her expression mournful. "That's not something that should happen to anybody, and nobody should have to see that."

"I comforted Manic before he died," I whispered, unable to stop myself. "I told him to not be afraid of death. The last thing he said was, 'I'm not scared anymore, Renata.'"

This seemed to make Sonic cry harder, and when he looked up at me, he had a soft smile on his face. "Thank you, Nata. I'm glad you helped him pass on that much more peacefully."

"You're welcome Sonic." It absolutely melted my heart to see him like this.

"I think it's kinda cool how he died," Caroline said. We all turned to glare at her in a You're Not Helping way. "What's up with the glaring?" she asked. "It's electrocution. With all those energy particles going through his body, it's just absolutely amazing."

"I do not understand you at all," Aidan said, shaking her head. "At least show some kind of sympathy for Sonikuu."

"Sonikuu?"

Without looking at her, Aidan said, "It's a nickname, Amy. Get over it."

Amy thought for a moment. "Sonikuu... I'm gonna use that!"

"What-fucking-ever." Aidan turned back to Caroline. "Regardless of whatever the hell his name is, show some respect for Sonic. His brother just DIED, and all you can talk about is your opinion of electrocution!"

"Well maybe I'm a science nerd!" Caroline snapped at her. "Maybe I can't help it!"

"Okay, point made," Aidan said, sitting back. I was amazed. She never gave in that fast in a fight!

"Renata, maybe you should wash some of that blood off before it stains your fur," Cream said quietly.

"Good idea Cream," I said with a smile. I looked over to the wash bin in the corner and saw there was a long metal rod curving around it. I threw one of the bedsheets over it to give me some privacy, since I wasn't THAT comfortable with so many people seeing me naked, and I ducked behind it to take off all my clothes and step into the water.

The water was really cool, but I ignored the goosebumps I was getting and washed myself, listening to the rest of the gang talk about memories of Manic. Apparently he DID have a habit of stealing things, but usually it was for everyone's own good, and he was a good drum player too.

I scrubbed the blood out of my fur and asked Sonic if he could wave Mason over to get me some fresh clothes. A few minutes later, Aidan ducked her head over the metal pole holding a handful of fabric. "Here's your fresh clothes, where do you want me to put them?"

I wrapped my arms around me. "First of all, stop staring through the water at me. Second of all, just hang them up here." I put my hand on the pole.

She backed up a little and met my eyes. "Sorry." She left the clothes there and she slipped back through the bars of my prison and back into hers.

"Aidan, stay a little bit please."

She looked back at me. "You just said you didn't want me looking at you naked."

"I don't, but just stay over here for a few minutes."

She gave me a look, but turned around and went back through the bars. "God, that's a tight fit," she muttered before walking back over to my bath. "I need to lose some weight."

"You do not, you look great!" I told her, and I wasn't lying. She had some seriously cool curves going on, and she didn't have a lot of fat on her, just lean muscle. _Part of growing up, _I thought, which made me remember her comment when Rouge and Shadow had been under the bedsheet. _"I wish I were Rouge right now." What had that meant? _I suddenly thought. _Had that meant she wanted to give Shadow-_

"If you say so," she said, bringing me back to the present. She sat down on the stool next to the wash bin, keeping her eyes off of me as I stood up, got out, and dried off my fur and skin behind the blanket. It was still kinda weird for me to have fur. I just wasn't used to it. I honestly preferred skin covering my entire body, and not just my arms, part of my muzzle, and my hands. At least the fur was super-short and straight, and a really pretty yellow color that resembled lemon sherbet. I ran my hand along the fur on my hip, feeling the softness, and suddenly I had a vision of Mephiles doing this, caressing my body with a feather light touch, then his hands going to-

"Damn it," I whispered under my breath to myself. I was getting lost in a Fantasy, and I had to get control of my emotions unless I wanted the entire prison to know what I was thinking.

It was so unlike me I wanted to cringe. All of my friends had classified me as a prude ever since they first started noticing my hesitance to nasty things such as the image I just had with me and Mephiles. Just thinking his name seemed to make my insides turn inside out and flutter with butterflies. It was a pleasant-but-horrifying feeling. Pleasant because I knew for sure I liked him. Horrifying because of what he was.

I shook myself mentally and told myself to finish putting my clothes on instead of standing there naked like a retard. These were simple, comfortable white sweatpants and a red tank top with a black heart in between my breasts, and again, I had that vision of Mephiles' hands.

Aidan's voice was what shook me from my Fantasy this time. She was sitting on the floor now, head in her hands. She moaned quietly, then whispered, "What are you?"

"Aidan?" Shadow asked, eyeing her in concern.

This time she screamed her words. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU, MANIC?"

My eyes widened. "What are you seeing about Manic?"

"This can't be real..." she whimpered repeatedly.

"Aidan, what are you seeing?" I repeated.

"Manic lives," she groaned, "but he isn't alive. He has a mind but no pulse. He has a form but not a body."

"What kind of riddle is that supposed to be?" Sonic asked, his eyebrows high.

"He's become a ghost! What does it sound like?" she snapped at him, her hair whipping around her as she swung her head in his direction, making him step back a little.

Now I knew she was utterly out of her mind. "Aidan, ghosts do not exist. You're probably dreaming and not having a Vision."

"I KNOW A FUCKING VISION WHEN I HAVE ONE, TRUST ME!" She took a deep breath to calm herself, then looked me in the eye. "He's going to come back and help us. He's going to get revenge on Mephiles."

I felt a deep fear stir in the pit of my stomach, but I knew that what she was saying had a really insane feeling to it. "Ghosts. Do. Not. Exist. Aidan, what did you eat yesterday?"

She burst into sobs and didn't answer my question. "Aidan, you're scaring us, please tell us what's going on," Amy said. "What are you seeing that's making you act like this?"

"It's not what I'm seeing that's crumbling me," she said between hiccups. "It's that nobody believes me."

"I believe you," a voice said quietly. Everyone turned to look at her.

"Bella, you can't be serious," Shadow said. "You'd be a lunatic for believing this."

"Maybe I am a lunatic then," she said calmly. "That's what everyone on earth thought before I died and I began my life here."

"How did you die?" Aidan said, suddenly interested. She wiped her face with her hands and looked at the blindfolded girl in the other cell.

"Fell," Bella said with a shrug. "Was climbing a tree, branch broke, and I snapped my neck when I landed. Simple as that."

Aidan's face lit up and she broke into a grin. "I think I knew you as a human! Bella Light, correct?"

Bella smiled slightly. "I was waiting for you to remember me, Aidan Gray."

* * *

**Dun-dun-duuuuuun. LOL :D**

**Gwen: Now that was corny as hell.**

**That was the point.**

**Gwen: Oh.**

**Okay, question. Why are you the only person who keeps visiting WHH?**

**Gwen: Because you always update while everyone else is asleep. But it's, like, 10 am something right now, so everyone else is up. They're just not here.**

**Whatever. Review this chapter, please, people!**

**~ GABL**


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